We can't love (on Hiatus)
by Mugi-boochan
Summary: Zoro was nothing more but a friend to Robin, knowing they are comrades, they can't love. For their, and their friends' sake. But when a fateful day has arrived, they can't avoid each other anymore; They are sent to a cursed island, but no one could predict what kind of terrible thing would happen there... - I'm sorry for being on Hiatus for a while, I'll be back ASAP -
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

**_A/N: I've never wrote any fanship-story so this is my first time and I actually don't know whether I should continue or not, so if you like it, tell me! _**

**_And if you hate this, share it with me, so I can try my very best on improving this~~_**

**_Enjoy!_**

Yet, it was another cheerful night aboard at the Thousand Sunny and everyone was enjoying this peaceful night for as long as it would last;

Sanji had once again prepared masterpieces in the form of snacks as Brook graced the atmosphere by striking his bow over the strings of his wooden violin.

Luffy, Copper and Usopp danced their lives off Brook's songs whilst Franky was steering the ship in the right direction by Nami's commands.

Robin had accompanied the rest by reading a book which was almost Chopper's size. The sound of the turning pages just added the necessary complement but Robin herself was not reading even ONE word out her thick book.

Sitting in the deck with the others, she narrowed her eyes and peeked at the grumpy swordsman who stuffed himself with alcohol, he did not know limits.

With joy she stared at how lost he stared in front of him, arguing with their cook (who had looked weird when he caught Robin on looking at Zoro) and how he was at the edge of falling asleep.

Her lips curled up when his eyelids grew heavier, how could someone so intimidating be so adorable at the same time?

But even though she wanted to share her feelings with him, she could not do that. They were comrades, friends and nothing more. And besides, Why would he even be interested in a woman who's almost ten years older than he is?

"Robin-chan, here's your coffee," Sanji had smirked when he passed her by and served her a hot drink in one single movement as gesture of succumbing.

A lot of people succumbed to Robin's beauty, her mysterious brown eyes caught every men's attention, her tan skin had been fitting her raven black hair. Not to speak of her athletic body, she might be one of the oldest crew members but she had the body if a eighteen year old woman.

But she was not only pretty, she also was smart; she could get any man she would like to have.

"Thank you," she whispered smiling as she forced her eyes to look away from Zoro.

Sanji had been standing next to her for another five seconds, wondering what her odd behavior meant, but he decided to not ask her; he would never bother a lady.

Her silence nor her weird behavior affected the crew's joy, everyone seemed to be appreciating this night without marines chasing them, weird islands separating them or having to fight monsters; even Luffy, whose addiction was fighting, was haply with this night of dancing and singing.

For some reason, they could even feel Sunny's presence at the ship as if he was a real person, and if he was he would be happy; everything was fitting the mood perfectly.

"So ..." Nami said when she joined the lone Robin who was sitting behind a round table, having a great view over the Grand Line's sea.

They were in the first half of the Grand Line, but they were soon approaching the second half; The New World.

Their navigator, Nami, had been telling it wouldn't be more than one month before they reach Fish Man Island, the last island of the first half of the Grand Line.

Did this mean their journey was almost over?

Robin shocked awake from her trance, but her calm attitude covered it.

Nami rested her chin in her folded hands and slowly bowed closer towards Robin.

"Why are you acting so weird lately? Explain me e-vry-thing," Nami had said with an accentuation on 'everything.'

Her lips curled up, and she slowly blinked her eyes hoping to get some information out of Robin.

But Robin smiled back, shaking her head innocently.

"There is nothing going on," she lied.

"Oh yeah? But everyone is noticing you're acting odd lately," Nami said, knowing for sure her friend lied; Robin was a good liar, no offense, but Nami had been a thief all her life, she had human knowledge ever since she was young.

Robin looked up, "That is because I read something interesting a few days ago. It's about one of the ancient weapons described in the Poneglyphs, it's not something special but it sure caught my attention," she responded calmly.

Nami sighed.

"I will get it out of you soon or later," she promised when she walked away in defeat.

Knowing Robin, Nami knew that this discussion would end badly for her. It was hard to get the truth out of Robin, because she mostly was a closed book which was hard to open, but as soon as she opened it, the effort was worth it. And so, she would not give up; not for anytime soon.

Robin was relieved she would give up for know; knowing Nami it would take long before she gives up, which she mostly does not do. She never gives up on the things she really wants, and for now she wanted nothing more but the truth.

But there was nothing she was hiding, right? She did not have any secrets? It was not as of she was in love or something ...

Robin bit her lip, thinking of what would happen if anyone would find out ... This crew would not be the same ... She had to fight against her desires.

She stood and glanced one more time at Zoro before she wished her nakama goodnight.

They were reacting weird at her unusual action though;

"But it's too early to go to bed?!" Luffy had said, but he was cut off by Sanji who groaned "Don't bother Robin-chwan! Se probably is tired because of you fools who sicken her!"

And those words, followed by a whole discussion, were the last ones to reach her ears before she went to her room, after that she could only head the waves slowly pounding to the ship.

XXX

Robin's eyes snapped open when she heard a screaming sound too feminine too be either her's or anyone else' but Nami's.

She released her blanket from her tight clutch and ran to the deck in nothing more than a silk garment hiding a slight bit of her body.

Her eyes widened when she saw Nami utterly useless lying in front of the steer, everyone had already been sleeping but Nami was not; judging from her face either something terrible happened (or was about to happen ...) or Sanji had been stealing her lingerie again, but Robin couldn't tell.

"Are you alright ...?" Robin asked when she had lowered herself to Nami's height while her arm petted Nami's back.

She did not respond, as an answer she merely put out her finger, gesturing to the oceans in front of them and when Robin received the hint, she flinched, not knowing her imagination was running out once again or she really saw what happened in front of her.

Her eyes widened when the cyclone, having a size superior to everything she had seen before, was raging its way to the Thousand Sunny.

The wind blew angrily, and the rain shaped like spears pierced through their clothes, the entire ship was about to be destroyed and Robin had trouble keeping herself at one place. She felt like their ship was nothing more than a mere fly compared to this hurricane of anger.

"Luffy, everyone!" Robin shrieked totally out of character. She never showed her emotions completely, but this time, fearing her life and her companion's lives, she did not might being found acting weird; everyone would go crazy after seeing this.

Except for Nami though, who had give up on life ever since she had noticed the cyclone's pressure; she did not see that coming in the least, which was weird since her prediction skills were the most trustworthy sources you could think of; not only was she a failure as a navigator, according to herself, she had also brought her friend's lives in danger.

Robin's voice had reached Sanji's ears, and in no time he woke up the entire ship by running to the deck with lightening's speed.

His attention was drawn by Robin's short clothes, but even before his eyes could turn into hearts as he saw Robin and Nami both sitting in the most attractive positions you could think of, he was almost torn apart by the pressure he felt.

"Nami-san! Robin-chan!" Whilst Robin had hoped for Franky's help (while slightly wishing for Zoro's too ...), Sanji had pretended to be the hero from some cliche comic and had ran into them to rescue them from death, but when he had jumped into them in utter happiness, Something with the strength of a pistol had knocked him down; Luffy stretched his arm hoping to reach Nami and Robin (whose voice managed to wake even him up out of his sleep) but had failed by hitting his cook.

Sanji fell down in despair, while Luffy had trouble enough with standing on two feet; the cyclone came by closer and closer with every second.

Followed by the rest of the male straw hat pirates, Luffy ran into the two women (and Sanji ...) who had been lying uselessly on the ground.

"Oi, Nami!" said Franky. "What the hell is this?! What happened to my ship?!"

Not even minding the cyclone in the slightest bit, Franky had been blaming Nami for what happened to the ship; the sides of it were closely to destroyed, but also the flowers on the deck, every chair and every table, had been or demolished or blown away by the strong eind of the Grand Line.

"S ... Sh ... Shu ... Shut up!" Nami yelled fierce, "can't you read the situation?! We're about to die!" She had lifted her face from her hands and glared at Franky.

"Nami, c-c-calm down! W-we won't seriously die, will we ...?!" Usopp had panicked, graced by Brook's and Chopper's howl of despair.

Franky had grabbed the steer whilst Luffy had set the sail as a last chance; maybe the air would blow them away fast enough if they were in the opposite position, but maybe they would die a painful death within minutes.

Usopp, Brook and Chopper had been crying while Nami had accepted she would die. Franky and Luffy were trying their very best to turn the ship, and Zoro was ...

"Oi!" Sanji had yelled after he forgot how he fainted for three minutes. "Where is that marimo?!" He asked.

Also Robin sharpened her eyes as soon as she realized it; Zoro was gone.

Within less than three seconds the crowd went crazy;

"Zoro! Zoro!" Usopp and Chopper cried in unison, while dealing with more than enough trouble at the very moment.

"Zoro-san!" Brook screamed when he inspected the entire deck.

"Oi, Zoro?!" Luffy dropped his guard down and fell on his chin as he released the sail.

Robin stood up, and with all the effort she had, she clutched Franky's leg.

"I'm sorry ..." She said, leaving him in thousands of questions, he knew to what limit this woman would go if she really wanted something. He knew.

"Oges fleur ..." Robin said, trying to have her arms shaped like an 'X', but failed though. The amount of flowers did not reduce because of that, it would only be harder to concentrate for her.

Dozens of eyes sprouted out of everywhere, she could see every single spot in this very ship, nothing would remain a secret to her.

But he was not in the crow's nest, nor was he sleeping in the boy's room. Nowhere ... He was ... Gone ...

"It can't be ..." Robin muttered wide-eyed. She released Franky's leg, who had been staring weird at her, and planted her hand on the floor.

"Zoro is .. Not at the ship anymore!' She said.

But the cyclone did not stay still because of that, it only hasted its way to crush the pirate's bones.

"What?!" Everyone, but Sanji, had yelled in unison. Their was a clear defeat present in all their voices, and even Sanji' face was revealing a slight hint of concern.

"That means ..." Nami said, staring at the cyclone once again.

"What do we do?!" Brook shouted.

"Zoro's not at the ship anymore ..." Luffy said lip-biting.

"I can't even keep my own crew together ..."

Luffy stood up and drew everyone's attention by standing up in anger. He was about to stretch is arms into the oceans, was he that desperate?

"Wait, Luffy!" Robin exclaimed, trying to cross her hands once again. "I'm going to-"

She had sprouted one hundred arms out of the underside of the ship, with one hundred eyes in every palm, searching for a body comparable to Zoro's, but at first she had only seen corpses of old men, young pirates, skeletons, everything but Zoro. The sea salt colored her eye corners red and she had trouble with keeping them open but as soon she spotted a green haired man, far away from the ship she did an attempt on grabbing him by sprouting one hundred arms in a long queue.

"I think we can make this out alive!" Frank yelled when the ship had turned around; the entire crew had been drenched by a wave of hope.

Robin felt her hand grabbing something until ...

"Aaaah!" She had yelled when something had stabbed her arm. A red liquid traversed her arm, and in pain she fell down exclaiming pain.

But the air currents grew too strong ... Robin ... Fell in the wild oceans of blue.

"ROOBIIN!"

And her vision grew black.

XXX

Robin slightly opened her eyes as she felt the sun shining on her face. It was a great feeling, waking up in the sunlight, but when she came by senses the unwanted pain in her arm returned and she had been softly groaning ever since.

Trying to ignore the pain, she glanced over her view. She was on a tropical island, judging from the palm trees spread all over her sight and the stuffiness hugging her in a very unpleasant way.

Right from her, miles and miles away, a big, sand colored mountain stood, and left from her a few logs, a bunch of wet clothes and a green, familiar hakamari were untidily dropped on the ground.

She knew exactly whose hakamari it was and when she saw it, her eyes widened.

Zoro.

He was here. Well, maybe not exactly on this place, but he was on the same location as she was, whether she liked it or not was the question.

She did not know what exactly happened before she came her, she felt like something sharp pierced through her right hand, which was now covered by a white shirt. She knew exactly whose shirt it was.

She tried to bristle, by looking at the blue sky. A few dark birds were flying through the mere number of clouds, some of them were heading to the mountain, others were flying in no actual direction.

She felt dirty when she stood up. She was drenched by dirty sea water, and she felt weak by standing on her feet.

Trying to observe the location, she walked (with a lot of effort ...) through the landscapes of sand. When she reached the coastline and saw the waves sliding over the sand, she had decided to sit down and tried to remember of what happened, but especially she tried to come up with what she would do next.

A cyclone, right? Yes, a cyclone ... The thousand Sunny was almost wrecked ... She fell in the water after being stabbed by something pointy ... She had tried to save Zoro, who was, for some unknown reason, drown ... The waves were protesting heavy, he could've escaped the water ... He could even reach the Thousand Sunny ... Why didn't he do that though?

It made no sense to her.

And what about the rest of the crew? Did they die?

It would be unfortunate if their limbs were ripped off because of the strong cyclone and their hearts and other organs would be somewhere in the seas of the Gand Line now ...

It would be, but knowing her crewmates, they'd not die really fast. They've been in worse circumstances.

She was happy Zoro at least, was not crushed to death. He was on this island ... But where the hell was he ...?

Robin rubbed her temples. She felt weak, really weak, as in 'I'm so weak I can't even use my ability anymore' weak.

Was it because of the presence of the Sea Salt in her clothes? It would be weird, undressing yourself on a strange island, but she slackened every minute that passed. She had to.

She had slowly dropped down her dress (after she had struggles with UNdressing herself because of her injured arm ...) and after that, it was her shirt which had been thrown in the sand. She felt herself growing slightly stronger, but even if she wouldn't, her lingerie would not and never be removed.

Before she had took her hands in the proper 'crossed' position, she heard footsteps coming closer. They suddenly stopped and Robin turned around as Zoro's presence was revealed.

He hesitated.

Zoro's hair was wilder than ever, and his big hands were covered with dirt. He was shirtless, as Robin could tell. His tan, muscular body completely fitted her tan body in nothing more but her lingerie. For some reason, she disliked this though. It only made her feel uncomfortable, knowing that Zoro saw her like this. He saw her in a bikini before, but this was different

Reading from his face, he regretted walking towards Robin.

But she smiled, not letting see how embarrassed she was herself. And so, it remained silent for quite a while. Zoro bit his lip as gesture of embarrassment, but did not say anything, hence the awkwardness only replenished.

When Robin had gathered up enough courage, she said

''Are the others here too ...?''

In mind, she had pinched herself. Why did she have to ask that? She did not even ask how he felt, let alone thanking him for saving her. Yes, she assumed he saved her, because from what she could remember she fell in the oceans and since then, everything became black.

''No,'' he muttered as respond, staring at his feet until she would say something again.

''Thank you …'' she whispered, walking away from him. Her face grew red, as red as the mountains miles and miles away from the coast she was at that moment. She never blushed, and mostly she had enough skills in hiding it when she did, but this time was totally different from what happened before.

He followed her.

''Thank you for what?'' he asked frustrated and irritated at the same time. Not only was this woman a mysterious, closed book, she also was behaving odd. She enjoyed teasing him, and that was why he could get irritated by her rather fast.

''Thank you for saving me,'' she responded as she turned around. Her red cheeks weren't red anymore, they were far beyond that. A slight hint of confusing was made clear by how she twitched her eyebrows though.

''I never saved you,'' Zoro said cold.

''What?'' She asked, not being able to say anything more than that.

''I never saved you,'' he repeated. ''I found you injured and tired at this coast, so I covered your arm and placed you under those trees …'' he said, gesturing to the place she indeed was sleeping.

''Oh …'' she said in utter embarrassment. ''Well, thank you for doing that,'' she added with a forced smile plastered on her face.

But of course he would do that … They were nakama, it would make him a bad comrade if he did not help her. She felt so weird, near to him.

It was as If her mind was blocked by his black aura.

He frowned, but she had already turned her face to the seas again.

This woman …

"I hope the rest is save ..." Robin said.

"They are," he reassured them, "they are strong, they can save theirselves."

Robin smiled, "that's true ..."

...

''So, that means we will be here together for quite a while …'' he muttered, not unhappy, but also not enthusiastic.

''Yes,'' she answered smiling. ''Who knows what might happen …''

**_A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, thank you for reading!_**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: First of all, I want to thank everyone who followed, favorited and reviewed it! You really encouraged me to keep writing even though I was not sure whether it was or wasn't _another_ stereotypical fanfiction were the main character is desperately in love, blah blah blah.  
Well, the second thing is that I twisted the plot a bit, I thought I would finish this story after this chapter but I guess I won't, so dear fanfiction, I'll be bothering you for quite a while. I guess.  
Well, in this chapter I'll try to explain all the oddness of the previous chapter (to me it's really weird writing this fanfiction, it all seems a bit OOC ...)  
Okay, I've been saying enough now, enjoy ~!  
(Or not ...)**

Robin had found herself staring at Zoro again. Her eyes went to the opposite side every time Zoro had a slight presumption of someone watching him, but her act was so credible, he had declared himself crazy.  
This was their third day on the tropical island. It sounded like one of those cliche love stories, "A desperately in love woman trapped with the one she's attached to on a dream island,,

Yes, that sounded cliche and too good to be true, too. But she was not desperately in love, she just seemed to be comfortable yet mindless around him.  
Wait. Did that mean she really was desperate?  
Maybe she was, she had barely talked to him for three days in a row, she just not wanted to make the first move, just as he tried to avoid her in any possible way.

She stood up from the tree trunk Zoro had cut down. not because she was tired of looking at zoro making a bonfire, but because she could not torture herself with those desperate minds. She wasn't the desperate type, and she did not aim for that title in the least either.

She walked to the coastline where she used to spend the past three days at, the time flew by when she looked at the waves reaching the -almost red- sand.  
There she could think clearly again, without being attacked by her desperate fangirl moments.  
At that place, she could think of things that really mattered, as plans of escaping and what they had to do when she reunited with the rest of the crew.  
But what if they were the only survivors? What if her comrades actually died an painful death and had been punished in the after life?

She closed her eyes and shook her head.  
They would not die, she knew them.

She kept reassuring herself at this certain place, because Zoro was not able to. He was trying to avoid her every moment of the day, but this island was not allowing him to.  
She started to hum one of her favorite songs, it was the song her mother used to sing for her when she refused to sleep as a little girl. She would love hearing Brook playing it, but as a woman she had to know where the limit was.  
She felt like almost everything was limited, and she knew that she would separate from this crew one day. Even the happiness she felt as soon as she was with her friends was limited, death would eventually force them to split up.

Even love was limited.

She gulped.

'Even love was limited.'

She stroke her left foot over the wet sand, and wiped her quote away.  
And after that, she remained silently until a loud shriek sliced through the silence, which meant Zoro just slaughtered a wild forest animal, also known as their 'dinner'.

XXX

Robin took small bits of her swine, which didn't taste as bad as she thought. Well, after haven't eating for over fifteen hours everything could taste like what Sanji would make.  
Zoro sat opposite from her, on the other side of the bonfire.  
Black had inked the sky, and small stars popped up out of nowhere, they were matching the light of their fire perfectly.  
A blue moon had rolled up and, besides Zoro's smacking and the sound of hidden crickets, the evening was extremely silent.  
Robin stared at the wound on Zoro's chest, which had grown worse. Red was drenching his haramaki.  
He first almost was killed by a sichibukai, Kuma was his name right? And after that Thriller Bark accident, he almost got killed by a cyclone (among the rest of the crew ...)  
Going to the New World would be too extreme for him, and that's why they waited. They waited for looking for their friends until both their injuries were gone.  
But despite of that all, Zoro did train every day. A swordsman did not only need brute strength, no, being a serious swordsman meant shorting your lifespan if necessary; training yourself to death. But she did not know what encouraged him to be a swordsman, she once had heard a story about this person who he had made a promise with, but she never bothered asking.

Robin drowned in her thoughts, and once more found herself desperately looking at Zoro. It had been three silently days, and sitting behind a bonfire was the perfect opportunity to chat, right?  
Well, why wouldn't they? They were just crewmates, friends, nothing more than that.

"It's a lovely night, isn't it?"  
Robin asked, feeling relieved she had finally cut the rope of awkwardness.  
Well, It was embarrassing when they didn't talk, but when Robin had gathered up enough courage she just wished she had done it three days ago.  
"Yeah .." Groaned Zoro, slightly surprised by her sudden, unnecessary comment. He did not dislike it though.  
Robin stared at her feet again, but pushed herself to try it once again.

"So, when will we go and look for the rest?" Robin asked.

He tilted his head and frowned, "I've attempted finding them ... But I ... Got ... Lost ... Oh, never mind it!"  
Robin chuckled amused, she felt her cheeks growing as red as the blood their swine had left, but his answer encouraged her on commenting it. And so she did.

"You never change, do you?" She asked.  
"Ehh? What's that supposed to mean?"  
Without her noticing, Zoro shoved more in her position ... Or she shove in his' ... She did not know, thinking and talking at the same time was an impossible task around him, even for such a woman as Robin.

She shook her head smiling, and glanced over his half revealed chest. She noticed something was wrong.

"Didn't you have three swords?"

"What?" Zoro looked at where her finger gestured too and nodded in vain.  
"Oh, yeah. I did, but when we arrived at this island I ... Lost it ..."  
He looked down, but did not look sad; his favorite sword Wado was still resting peacefully in his waistband.

"Could it be your sword that caused this wound?" She asked, gesturing to her right arm.  
"I mean, I felt something slicing my arm when I tried to save you, and I do believe all your swords were in your haramki the last time I saw you, that day ..." She explained.

"You tried to save me ..?!" He asked surprised.  
"Yes I did," she said, "but I failed though. I wonder how we could've arrived at this island together ..."  
Also Zoro remained silent, and did not talk until Robin opened her mouth again.

"How come you fell in the water, if I may ask?" She asked frowning. This question had been wandering through her head for a while, but she never bothered asking.

"I think I ... No, I'm not going to tell you!"

"Hmm, why not?" She asked, with her lips already curling up.  
"That's because ..." He gestured to her smile with his facial expression, she would laugh at him if he told her, he thought.

"I won't laugh," she swore. And that was the filthiest lie she lied this certain day , when Zoro had told her, after refusing dozens of times, that he was asleep and the strong wind blew him in the seas, she had laughed extraordinarily loud (compared to Luffy's laugh it was almost soundless though ...)

"you liar ..." Zoro growled, a smile of sarcasm remaining on his face.

Robin muffled her chuckle, and glanced over his enchanting sword 'Wado' once again, no stain of blood; it was a nature, pearl white beauty.

"Why did you actually become a swordsman?" She asked after she found the right words and put them in a decent sentence.

He looked wonderingly, it wasn't the first time this woman had left him in a mystery. The sudden change of topic confused him.

"Because of a promise, why do you ask?"

"Hmm, just because."

Her answer was smooth, and her face stayed serious. Robin allowed him to blink three times and then threw the second question "with who did you make that certain 'promise'?" without mercy.

"Is this a freaking interview or something?"

Without feeling offended, she just stared at him, waiting for an answer.

"Fine, I promised my youth friend that either I or she would become the greatest swordsman in the world, but the day after that promise she died ..."

"She ...?" Robin asked without any pity.

"Yeah, the person I made a promise with is a girl," he answered a long story short.

"I see ..."

"Yeah, and now there is that navy girl, damn I forgot her name ... Who almost has an identical face to the girl, Kuina, I made a promise with ... And she says the same things as Kuina did, it just makes me want to puke ..."  
He said, his face wearing a miserable frown while he stared at his feet.  
Without him nor Robin even being aware of it, he sat a mere five inches away from her, and had stopped eating abruptly.

"Oh really?" Robin asked, "Do I know her?"

He raised his head an tried to recall flashbacks.  
"I don't know, I believe she was in Alabasta, too, she also fights with swords and had her dark blue hair in that annoying haircut ..."  
'A haircut too similar to Kuina's' he added in thoughts.

"Hmm, I believe I saw her once. Maybe we've even fought? I don't know anymore ..." She said honestly.  
When she had ripped her eyes of her feet, which had been tapping all the time in during their conversation, she noticed how close Zoro sat next to her.  
Two inches.

But her cheeks did not color tomato-red, and her sentences weren't interrupted by her constant stuttering. She did not secretly play with her raven black hair and she hadn't succumbed to his massive beauty.  
Well, he was not _that_ pretty, right? Or was he ...? She did not now, but she knew that talking healed their miserable friendship bit by bit.

"And she actually is quite similar to you, too ..." Zoro managed to say after Robin had left him in an utter silence of pain.

She looked at him an raised her eyebrow, "I assume that is a compliment, right?" She said, slightly curling up her lips of amusement.

"Y-yeah, it is ..."  
This guy had no sense for direction, I mean, he could not even remember a decent route to his bedroom and the bathroom without getting lost for at least ten minutes, but giving compliments wasn't his thing either, since he simply never gave anyone compliments.

"Then ... Can you please explain me what you mean?"  
She asked, doubting whether this guy was having a mental-disease, (which she had considered as a theory for his behavior) or whether he just was playing an odd and meaningless game with her, called  
'Hey, I'm giving you a (not)compliment, now you can guess whether I'm having a lack of brains or not'

"Well, talking to you reminds me to her ... I mean, she was just as wise as you are, but ..."

"But what?"

"She also irritated me, making me want to kill someone ..."

"Err ..."

"She was a mysterious person, she kept teasing me with her twisted mind, and left me in dozens of question after having talked to her ... I never thought there would be actually someone like her ..."

He smirked, and Robin lost it after he 'complimented' her, but she forced a smile letting him knowing she ... Appreciated his ... 'Compliment' ...?

"You're a special guy," Robin grinned, helping him when she figured he tried to muster the right words to explain how that - what he just said - could be a compliment, because it looked like he suffered when he tried to come up with the right words.  
Hmm...  
Did she also look like that when she tried to come up with decent words for an acceptable sentence ...?

"Ehrm ..."

"That's a compliment," she winked him and they both started laughing.

Robin had looked up to the sky, stars made place for a red morning sky to break through and the shiny sun followed the blue moon gradually.

Robin stretched her arms and yawned, with her hand covering her mouth she said;

"I think I'm going to sleep now ..."  
She stared at her right arm, which had been slightly recovered. "Shall we go and seek for the crew tomorrow, I mean, together this time?"  
She asked, knowing that sending Zoro alone to look for them would be a child's joke.

"Yeah," he answered, obviously tired too. "Let's do that."

Robin stood up, and noticed how close Zoro was to her at that every moment, the distance between them couldn't be more then three centimeters.

Robin tried to step over the log they were sitting on, but her heavy eyelids had disturbed her sight; she slackened, she stumbled over her own feet and her head landed softly on Zoro's chest.

"Ehm ... I'm sorry ..."

Her chocolate brown eyes met his dark ones, and sank in an ocean of black. His lips slightly raised, so as his eyebrows did.

That moment in his arms, were it seconds, minutes, hours?

She never knew how good looking this guy actually was, his cheekbones were strong and his face just spoke masculinity (in some sort of weird way ...)

The tiny scratches and wounds on his face never actually caught her attention, but now they caged her and she did not know what to do.

He smelled like sweat, but also like chestnuts; true nature, and those two scents mixed up fascinated yet grossed her out at the same time.

He chuckled, and without her even noticing what happens his lips were softly pressed to hers, gently and passionately.

A casually explosion guided her hands to his cheeks, she pressed her body closer to his, and she stoke his cheek with her nose as soon as his lips freed her.

Well, was this limited?

Her vision grew indistinctly as her eyelids grew heavy. She closed her eyes, her head felt painfully; as if her brains were cracked.  
She lost conscious

That same day, six hours later, Robin had been sleeping in the hammock Zoro made for her, she went to bed with joy but when she woke up and found the sun shining at her half revealed body, she was not that happy anymore.  
Her head was still aching, just as when she went to bed, and an unfamiliar yet feminine voice was stuck in her mind, whispering inaudible things.  
And the thing that scared Robin the most, was that it was not even close to her own voice.

She stood up, trying to remember every single detail of what happened the past night.  
But there were no details to tell, she kissed Zoro. Dot.

Though, she couldn't even tell why they kissed, she barely could think; there was only one thing she was absolutely capable of; hearing a feminine voice whispering things, things that could not make sense it the least.

"Ill him ... Ill him ..."

Ill him?

She walked to the place where Zoro had lit up the bonfire last night, the place where they had talked and laughed, the place where they had ... Kissed ...

It still smelled like swine-flesh, not something one thought of as "Very pleasant", but she could bear it.

She passed the logs where they sat on, last night, laughed on last night ... Kissed on ... Last night.

She shook her head, whilst the voice in her head raised.

"Fill him ... Fill him!"

The voice was disturbed when someone touched her shoulder.  
A big, tan hand which was property of a big, tan man.

"Zoro ..."  
She said relieved when she turned around, at the other hand she had hoped to not see him after that kiss.

"We're going to look for the rest today," he said, cold enough to let it seem they never had kissed. "Let's go."

When he had turned around, to lead Robin towards the forest (which was a dumb idea ...) the sudden words in Robin's mind became clear.

'_kill_ him ... _kill_ him!'  
Echoed the voice the unfamiliar woman in her head.

'Kill that guy!'

...

**A/N: yeah, this was it!  
They kissed, they actually freaking kissed ... Yeah, it really is cliché and all, but that's what the plot twist is about, they kissed for the plot's sake.  
If you'd ask me, they would end up killing each other instead of kissing ... Well ... Maybe ... They will!  
Okay, okay, I'll stop. I hope you enjoyed it even though the ending was weird and all, thanks for reading!**

**(I'm already apologizing for typos, i need to find a beta ...) **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Once again I'm saying thank you to the people who followed and favorited this story! The plot is being revealed soon.  
(I really felt like this Chapter was really rushed and written poorly, Gomen mina!)  
Okay, but here's the thing: because of the lack of readers I don't know whether I should continue this story or not ... I do not want to waste my time for something no one will read ...  
Well, I need to think about it for a while, enjoy it for now!**

_"Ochenta Fleur, quatro manos!"_

Robin crossed her hands as if she was an Egyptian pharaoh lying in her sarcophagi and closed her eyes until she heard something snapping; she allowed herself to look at her victim when the pink sakura petals had disappeared.

As she saw her victim fell down, utterly useless and broken, she had smirked.

Then her eyes glued to the injured Zoro left from her and she lowered herself to his height; his wound had grown bigger and blood leaked through the gaze around his chest.

Zoro pressed his big hand against the ground and managed to balance himself, but he coughed red and sweat traversed his forehead.

"All you all right ...?" Robin asked him concerned, though a tiny black hole in her heart had convinced her she had enjoyed his suffering just a little bit.  
What was wrong with her?

"Yeah ..."  
Zoro groaned soft, attempting to emerge.  
"Thank you .." He added against his own will.

When he was standing on both his feet again, he glanced over the enormous wild animal which had tried to kill him, but when he saw the blood leaking out of its beak and that bruises had appeared on its lower body he could not do anything but smiling.

This big goose was the eleventh forest-animal which had crossed their path, they were looking for their nakama for almost three hours now, and that very moment Zoro had dropped his guard down he was almost killed by another enormous monster.  
But Robin had saved him, even though her attitude had grown different to him the past hours; her brown eyes grew almost black, her charming chuckle changed into an evil smirk: in his eyes she was even more terrifying than any wild animal which had crossed their path.

Something was definitely wrong with this island, they had to leave soon ...

But that was easier said than done; trees were forming the thick walls of a complicated labyrinth, which seemed to be symmetrical; the most of the trees were too similar to each other, but there also wasn't a sun being able to direct them to the right place: a dark veil of clouds had covered any possible hint of direction.

They were desperate.

XXX

Robin peeked at Zoro with the eyes she cloned secretly in the trees, and while Zoro was  
unsuspectingly following her direction, she could see him from head to toe, from front to back.

'Kill him, he does not love you!' Said the unfamiliar, feminine voice in Robin's head once again.

Biting her lip, she tried to ignore it, but when the fourth hour had arrived she could not stand it any longer.

'Stop it ...'  
Robin commanded furiously in mind, her facial expression was as natural as ever though.

When a respond had reached her ears, her eyes had widened and she gulped loudly.

'Don't run away from your problems! He hates you!'

Robin slightly turned her head; even though she could see Zoro without actually looking at him, she wanted to see him with her own eyes.  
It was far different from cloning eyes and then desperately staring at him; her own eyes had experienced a sensation every single time he had appeared in her vision, but when she had recalled the memories of their kiss her eyes had turned away without a command: drops of water filled her eye corners and even though she was not sad, she inaudibly cried.

When her brown eyes had met his black ones, she could see something not even a hundred eyes could see; if it wasn't for her shyness, she had discovered it just a long time ago: a hint of concern mixed with a hint of love were equaling his dark eyes.

He loved her, she knew that.  
She had human knowledge and even though Zoro's was a rare type of the exemplar 'human', even he could not hide the truth from her.  
He loved her, but in what kind of way?

In the way of friendship, or just the manner of actual 'love-love'?  
Did he see her as a sibling (since he had compared her to his sister ...), or did he just loved her as good company; nothing more than that?

'He does not,' answered Robin after a while, her face still natural. 'And if he did, why would it bother you?'

No answer.

"Haven't we been here before ...?"  
Zoro asked after a while.

Frustrated Robin stared at the indeed familiar trees shrouding the two, yes, they've been here before, right?

She sighed as an answer.

"Shouldn't we ...-"

'Kill him ...'

Whilst Zoro was talking, Robin had been hearing more than what only came out of his mouth.

'Kill him ...'

"Keep it quiet!"

Without her being aware of it, Robin had talked out loud, contrary from what supposed to happen.  
Judging from Zoro's face, she knew for sure he would never take her serious, ever again; his eyebrow raised whilst a vein popped in his temple.

"What's with the attitude?" He asked irritated.

"I-I'm sorry, I just ..."  
She stopped defending herself and instead of that, continued walking: she raised speed, the injured Zoro had trouble keeping up with her.

This woman remained a mystery to him...

XXX

An utter despair had vanished and made place for hope again; light shined trough the wall of thick trees, and Robin had caught up a blue sky again, a golden dot had supposed to be the sun.  
When she walked further out of the forest, she saw a great landscape ahead of her; totally different from the tropical side of the island they stranded.

Colorful flowers graced the landscape and its high hills, the sweet scent of red fruits were noticed by Robin, beautiful, small trees shrouded the clear river, which was flowing trough the green of grass.  
And not that faraway, a small house was perched on one of the highest hills, there was no chimney and there also were no windows in it.  
It looked like it could collapse any minute.  
The roof was build of golden straw and branches, while the walls were built of crumbled stones and red rocks, as red as the mountain which was right from them, which was far-faraway though.

"Zoro ..." She managed to say after she had succumbed to the beauty of her view. "Look ..."

"Huh ..?" Groaned Zoro who was at the edge of falling asleep.  
but when he took sight at the landscapes of green his eyes widened; "wow ..."

Without a second thought the two exhausted pirates were heading towards the highest hill, the hill where the tiny house was standing on.  
Robin used her ability to crawl up the hill, but Zoro had to do it with his own physical power (which also was lowered since the big injury on his chest); he did not bother asking her help.

Robin slowly opened the door as they had both reached the top of the hill; she hesitated for a second, since the breathtaking few she had from the very top was dominating her.

They both had been hoping for a great stock of food and decent clothes in here; they did not expect it though, and they did not know why somebody would actually live here; this place seemed to be abandoned a long time ago.

The doorway was small, when Robin opened the door without any trouble (yeah, it was not even locked ...), she found herself in a narrow hall of merely two meters long.  
It was dark, she barely saw anything.  
But when she passed the small and dark hall, and reached a second door which was also opened without any trouble, her eyes snapped when lights went on and she saw that impossible was possible; a room half the size of a football field was lying at her feet.

She narrowed her eyes to take sight at the red couch in the middle of the room, it was round and way bigger than any average couch.  
The left side of the "living room" was a kitchen, with all the luxuries Sanji had used too. A big table was dividing the living room and the kitchen into two different rooms.  
At the right side of the room a winding staircase led to a second floor.  
A chandelier was hanging on the white ceiling, but the floor was made of laminate.  
The house had looked so small from the outside, but once they entered it felt as if they were in a big mansion, a candle fragrance was hanging in the space and there was an actual fireplace behind the big, round couch.

"Zoro ..." She stumbled again, for what she knew he was either gone or half dead; she did not sense his presence.

"Huh ...?" He mumbled as if he just woke up out of a deep and long sleep. "W-wow..."

Deja-vu.

The kitchen seemed as if there was plenty of food, there must've been a place where they could rinse themselves and their definitely was a sleeping place ...  
Who could've imagined that this certain crappy, mini shed had been a super-awesome-gigantic- fancy vila ...?

"How can this be ..."  
They did not know anything and it neither made any sense to them, but they were satisfied with what they had at that very moment, they could eat, shower and sleep before they would reach the rest of the strawhats again.

"I don't know ..." Robin answered. "But I think we should ...-"

'Kill him ...!'

...

Robin had been bathing in this unbelievable luxury bathroom, which reminded her to how Nami had described the sauna in Alabasta; it was comparable to a Roman bathhouse, it was just like one large sauna containing three different baths; a cold one, a tepid one and one of a incredibly high temperature. The last one was Robin's favorite.

She felt bad for using someone's expensive water, eating someone's delicious food and sleeping in someone's bed; but they were pirates after all.  
It was a weird thingy that there was electricity in such an isolated place, and even Robin could not focus on thinking of a good theory:

'Kill him ... Kill him ...!'

And neither could she declare the voice which had been echoing trough her head.

Zoro was sleeping, he hadn't slept this well for an entirety (and believe me, this guy slept a lot the past days …)  
Snoring he had curled himself up in the most comfortable position and had wrapped the blankets around him, his pillow was soft, so was the mattress of this canopy bed.  
Going up the stairs, he reached this room; it was similar to the living room, but the striking difference between here and there were the high number of pictures that had covered the walls, ceiling and even the floor.  
Photos of two young and smiling people; a muscular man and a tiny woman.  
They weren't really similar to each other, they weren't blood relatives and they looked funny together; Whilst the man on all the pictures had a funny mustache and was tall, muscular and big, this certain woman was tiny, cute and slender.  
But judging from their faces, they were the most happy people ever. Every photo had containing the two of them smiling, they were all so similar …  
It was just that Zoro did not care about any happy couple, he was in a need for sleeping and he promised himself that as soon as he would wake up, he would go looking for a good booze.

XXX

Zoro's eyes were glued to the fridge; they flew from spot to spot, he really was in a need for a strong drink.  
Robin had been collecting some old, heavy books. The most of them were dusty, others had no cover, but she had no right to say she had nothing to do.

she decided to read a red covered book, the title was faded but the back had caught her interests.

Page One.

Her attempt failed right away, her eyes were sticking to Zoro's back.  
Aggressively he had been inspecting the entire fridge (and this was a huge sized fridge, just wow …), but he felt some eyes staring at his back: It was called instinct.

'Why are you even looking at him?' Robin heard someone saying. 'It's obvious he hates you, men like him don't deserve you. Kill him …'

Robin knew ignoring it wouldn't work, but she also knew responding had no use.  
She closed her book with a loud 'bang' and threw it on the red pillow next to her, a frown on her face.

Ignoring it would not work, not would responding …  
This certain woman wanted her to kill Zoro, so why wouldn't she just … No! She could not, and she would never kill one of her friends, even not the ones like Zoro … Yeah, first he kissed her and then he pretended to not know her … That was rude, wasn't it?

Shouldn't they talk, I mean, killing wasn't an actual solution right? Or … was it?

"I really don't understand you," she said after she decided that talking was the right solution.  
Zoro growled, "What …?"  
He had turned his head to hers, and closed the fridge after he understood she demanded his full attention.

"First you kiss me, and then you decide to fully ignore me, I do think that's weird." She crossed her legs.  
"Or am I weird because of thinking that?"

He hated the way she talked in riddles, and he would never ever like it.  
But he did not give her the full right to talk like that.

"Are you kidding me …? You're the one who's acting weird! Whispering things to yourself, smiling as soon as I get hurt … I even heard you muttering 'Kill him,' what's that supposed to mean?!"

…

'I even heard you muttering "Kill him."' …

'I even heard you muttering "Kill him."'…

'I even heard you muttering "Kill him."' …

She gulped.  
Did that mean … The woman in her voice … Was … her talking to herself …? Could it be …

A door slowly opened and in an instant their eyes went from looking at each other to the entrance of the villa.  
Zoro had already pulled one of his two swords out of his haramaki, and Robin crossed her hands 'X' shaped.

But once again, this island and its weirdness managed to surprise the two pirates (who were already used to odd situations …).  
An old woman, rather familiar to Zoro, was standing in the doorway and glared at the two of them.  
In her one hand she was holding a blue bucket filled with fishes, and in her other hand she was holding an old rod.  
She was short and had her gray hair tied in a messy bun, her frown revealed the wrinkles on her forehead and she was wearing a black gown.  
She slowly walked towards the two of them, she did not seem happy.

When she was close enough, Zoro had realized it,  
This was the woman on all those pictures! but she was … old …

"My, my ..." she said, glancing over the two and trying to understand the situation. "This is bad ..." she added in vain.

**A/N: Yes, another chapter of mysteries and odd situations … Well, carry on 'cuz the next chapter will explain a lot, I hope you're still interested in what will happen next.  
Thanks for reading~!  
(As I said, this chapter felt really rushed. If you have comments to make, post them, it will really help me and stuff ...)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:  
Wow, it's chapter 4 already! I hope you guys are still excited for more.  
I bet you can remember (or just reread ... haha) my previous Author's note, wherein I said I would be probably quitting this fiction ... Well, when I checked my story the next day I received sudden reviews that I should continue, and stuff like that, and that made me realize something (omg, it's just like a speech).  
Okay, maybe I don't have like a shitload of readers, but I'm saying this with whole my heart, the readers I have are the best readers a writer could wish for, thank you!  
Well, this chapter is quite different, and that's why I put this AN at the beginning of the story; just read on, you'll eventually understand everything.  
It actually is someone telling about her past, and I made a sort of stories of it. Yeah.  
Okay, i've been saying enough, this AN is way too long. Enjoy~!**

**_XXX_**

A long time ago, when even I was a young and healthy woman, pirates from all overt he world had divided themselves in groups called crews and started to seek for the treasure of the previous Pirate King.  
Peasants, orphans, bandits, everyone could be a pirate, and even thought the Navy reflected pirates as bad people, some of them actually had great hearts.

I was still in the late twenties, as I recall.  
I was young, healthy and above all a beautiful young lady.

But compared to the beauties of the royalties, I was nothing.  
Our country was ruled by a wealthy man and his woman, the nobel family "Quincy", and compared to the most royalties stories were being told of; they were nice people, for what I knew.  
But what I knew was not even close to where the truth lied.

**_XXX_**

"Oh really?" I asked with an affectionate smile forced on my face.  
From what I could remember, I was sitting on the wooden bench, in the garden of the royalties' mansion.  
I stared at one of the upper windows, a small royal son was sitting on the windowsill and enthusiastically told stories about the infamous Pirate Crew of "Gol D. Roger."  
I never heard so much spirit pushed into stories, this little boy sure had talent.  
But whilst he was telling about how the Roger pirates had received this incredibly high bounties, I was tapping with my feet on the ground.  
This kid should be studying; I would've been done for if his parents, the King and Queen of the country, would find out that a simple peasant was talking with their 'Oh so precious' kid about pirates.  
Our country hated pirates, we had been victims of many robberies, but didn't actually hate them, so as the royal son, Alois.

"Well?" He asked after a while.  
I had been shocked out of a sort of trance, but had simply smiled after that, and hoped he did not ask me a question about my opinion or something, (which he mostly did...)

"You weren't listening, were you?" He asked with a clearly pout present in his voice.  
At that time, I never could've known it. I never knew that I would go from my life at the farm, to the mansion of the royals.  
At that time, I never could've imagine that I would be their actual maid..

**_XXX_**

Three years later.

"Alois, wake up!"

Yet another day that the sun shane trough the dark curtains and were lighting up Alois' pale, silk skin.  
He was nine years old back then, but his attitude hadn't changed even a tiny bit; he still was not even thinking of giving away his toys, nor was he planning to take school actually serious.  
His parents kept stating their son had potential... Maybe because it was their only son and they were desperate, or maybe because of the fact he actually had potential.  
But he was just, like all the persons with twisted minds, admiring pirates, even more than he had admired God.

He did not know he was about to marry this girl from South Blue, she was from a royal family and of course, nobles should marry nobles just like always; they should create a happy family with brilliant kids and die in wealth, just as if their lives were already decided in a guidebook.  
But no, Alois was different, I didn't see him marrying a perfect rich girl, with the same blonde curly hair as him, and the two similar sea-blue twinkling eyes.  
No, definitely not.

This year was a certain special year, far different from all the other years I've been cooking, cleaning and working my ass off in here.  
It was the year my life changed forever.

I hadn't seen my family for quite a while, it was a year and a half as I recall. The most holidays Alois begged me to stay with them, since he told me I was the only reason he still was home, instead of being a pirate right now.  
Yeah, it were yet three other years of funny, exciting and moving pirate stories.  
When i told Alois he should become a writer, to defend his parents' honor, he had cried and asked me whether I was like his parents, wanting him to be a proper son and a good leader when he was an adult, which i answered with:  
"I do not expect you to be what you don't want to be, as long as you're happy, i am."  
If I had to be honest, that was my best speech ever.

Anyways, it seemed that this certain autumn day was just like all the others, but the weather was obviously better compared to our previous autumn, and I actually started to love my work, with Alois and his family.  
I had been preparing breakfast again, simple pancakes with a tipping of chocolate was Alois' favorite, and even though his parents had been forbidding me to make that ever again (since, according to them, no one wanted to marry a fat guy ... But God, Alois was as skinny as hell), but since his parents had a special meeting today, they left the house and gave me the lead over the two other maids, and the kitchen full professional cooks.

After that, Alois had to study for Classic languages (why were kids of his age even learning that?!), and I had to pluck berries from the garden, with aid of one of the other maids, for tonight's dessert.

I hadn't eat anything that day, and gosh I was starving to death.

I had found myself staring at the other side of the mansion once again, there was another garden (I know right, why would people have two gardens?!), but it was told me it was forbidden to enter.  
Fruits, as exotic as they looked, grew in the vitrine of glass, protecting the entire garden of colorful dots (yeah, i do believe those were indeed fruits ...)

Alois had been telling me legends about those fruits, and I really found it creative, the term "Devil Fruit," but I never actually questioned it.

"What are you doing, go and work!"  
Hannah, one of the other maids of the mansion, had commanded me fierce.  
I never liked that woman, we used to have constant fights and one time I even remember I threw a scissor at her, my my.  
If i had hit her, I would be in big trouble right now, but I was happy with my miserably throwing abilities for once.

I didn't realize I had dropped my wicker basket full of berries.  
I felt Hannah's eyes burning in my back, and so she did not allow me to taste on of the red berries.  
Sigh ...

That evening, before the King and Queen came back, Alois had caught me on staring at the other side of the garden once again.  
The mysterious fruits intrigued me, it wasn't for my hunger, it just was for my admiration.

"You're boring ..." He moaned after I had asked whether he had studied or not, but I just simply answered I was tired of all the work, and that ended the discussion.  
I pressed my nose against the window of my room, the view was just fascinating ... They looked like shiny dots; colored stars in one green field.

"Ahh ..." Alois said after a while, he raised his head, a smirk gracing his face.  
"I get it ..." He added chuckling, whilst I was wondering whether he was talking to me or he had those conversations himself again ...

"Mommy and daddy said those fruits shouldn't be looked at .. Let alone eaten ... But you've been a great maid for us, so if you want to eat some, just ask me. I've got the keys of the vitrine ..."

"What? Eh? Really?"  
I didn't want to bring Alois in trouble, so at first I shook my head, which he named as boring once again ... It wasn't like I was dying to eat one of those ... Right ...?

He grabbed my head when he saw me obviously doubting ... And pulled me towards the forbidden side of the mansion ... The garden, which actually didn't look forbidden ... I mean, from out of the windows, everyone could see what happened in those gardens ... It was suspicious to me, and I immediately had regretted my choice ...

**_XXX_**

"Which one do you think looks good?"  
Alois asked me grinning, licking his lips in a disturbing, yet cute way.

We had been trough thousands and thousands of questions like "What are you going to do, boo-chan?" or "Where are you going, Alois-sama?"  
Well, after another load of Hannah's question (uh I seriously couldn't stand that woman ...), we had arrived at the garden.  
The King and Queen wold arrive in another two hours.  
(Omg, I still can't describe how awesome it felt; working in this great, awesome mansion and eating the best sorts of food everyday, the only thing I disliked was that I could see my family often ... Yeah ...)

Before I even knew it, Alois had put a -red mixed with green- mango in my mouth, I didn't realize the situation i was in at that moment my teeth when into the fruit and the juice had entered my mouth... It tasted rather gross, I almost puked.

"Alois!"  
I wanted to scold at him, scream at him and even hit him when the burning hell went trough my throat ... It hurt just too much, I collapsed in the grass and had thrown out every single piece still remaining in my mouth.  
That day had changed my life, since that certain fruit was a Devil Fruit, the sort of fruits Alois told me about.  
Two hours after I ate it, Alois' parents found it out and had fired me; they said that they made this garden look so strikingly on purpose: the ones who would succumb to the fruits were obviously untrustworthy employees, it turned out to be a test and I failed...  
I returned to my family, I was happy to see them and they were happy to see me, but I was hated in the town because the incident with the King and Queen leaked through.  
My Devil Fruits's name was "Hantai hantai no mi", and at first I understood it as "pervert pervert fruit," but as you know, it also means "opposite".  
It turned out to be I ate the "Opposite Opposite fruit", a paramecia type which allowed me to use a kind of forbidden magic ... And because of that, a woman as me was even more hated than ever before.  
But the marines had allowed me to join them; they saw me as a good use to capture low-bounty pirates with my ability, and i needed money so I agreed.  
I wasn't really unhappy at that stage of life, yeah i missed the mansion, but everything went all-right and I even found a job which payed me better.  
The only one who was broken was Alois: he screamed, shouted and did attempts on escaping when I left ... I felt so bad for him, but I knew we couldn't talk ever again ... Our "friendship" was over, but on the last day I saw him he said he considered me as his mother ... I think I can never get over that, ever again ...

Seven years later ...

I worked the marines six years in a row now, I was 38 already, and four years ago I married this rear admiral from the marines.  
I did not have children, nor did I desire for them, I felt way too old now and besides, I wouldn't have the time to raise them.  
I still lived with my family, my most siblings were happily married, blah blah blah.  
But I was raising some of my younger ones since my parents were way too old to handle seventeen year old brats.  
Yes, I was the oldest of all of them.

It had been a while since I heard something from the King and Queen for the last time, I heard some rumors that there would be a wedding in three years ...  
I missed Alois, he was already sixteen.  
in three years he would marry ... No, I was sure that he would become a pirate ...  
My heart fell in pieces when I realized it; if he would become a pirate, we would be enemies.

**_XXX_**

It was late. I was checking all the cages of the numerous pirates we had caught.  
They knew their faith; they would die soon.  
Well, the most pirates didn't crossed the line of 20 million berries, and so weren't an actual treat; but we managed to catch one pirate which possessed the bounty of 78 million berries, a great victory.

Well, that was one victory against numerous of loses, the Navy had once more failed in catching Gold D. Roger.  
This man was a real treat, he entered the New World years ago, and all the marines which were sent to catch him, never returned ... Even not the strongest admirals we had, managed to survive their trip unharmed.

When I left the base I knew I should go home, my husband was on an expedition to catch a certain dangerous piratecrew.  
I was concerned about him, but I also was concerned about my three younger brothers.  
Those shitheads probably had blown up our house already, so I knew I had to go back ...  
But when my eyes fell at the enchanting lights of the haven, I had dropped down my bag and stared at the ships arriving and departing in the black of night.  
I felt old, my life was the same just every freaking day and I had now friends but my family; I was hated by the most townspeople, even though I was a great help for the marines and had saved this town several times.  
By just eating this fruit, this Devil Fruit, my whole life was twisted.

I grabbed my sketchbook out of my bag; yeah, there was this one little detail I had skipped.  
I had a great love for drawing, I did it ever since I was wearing diapers, and I did not like bragging but I had to be honest: I was pretty good.

Dark ships soon appeared on the blanco paper, my pencil went from 'whoosh whoosh' and before I knew it the same haven in my vision appeared on my sketchbook.

"Beautiful, as always."  
That was not my voice, nor was it a voice I was familiar with. It was deep, manly, and I believed I seriously never heard it before ... Or did I?

Three fingers tapped on my shoulder, and when I turned my head about 90 degrees I could spot a tall person wearing a black gown from my eye corners.  
When I went into details, I saw sea blue eyes and gold, curling hair.  
A-alois ...!?

"Haruki-san ..."  
Oh yeah, speaking about details; I also forgot to mention my name, it was Haruki ... Ugh, I'm getting too old for this ...

I stood up, glaring, but when I had to raise up my head to make eye contact, I flinched.  
The look in his eyes ... Miserable, it scared the shit out of me.  
The sadistic smirk on his face ... As if he was in the mood for ... Killing ...

This could not be Alois, not the cute, little Alois I knew ...

I didn't notice it, but a young girl had accompanied him before I could even tell, she had a rather familiar face, a tan skin and she narrowed her green eyes.  
Her black hair was hanging on her shoulders, and she was licking her red lips ... Hannah?!  
No, she was way too young to be Hannah, but from what I knew, that woman had a daughter, slightly younger than Alois was ...  
Oh my freaking gosh, this was too much for me to handle ... What did just ...  
... I heard a calm voice echoing trough my head, muttering something inaudible ...

"Haruki-san," Alois repeated. "Long time no see ... You look different, how is it ... Working for the marines?"  
I could obviously hear a disgust in his voice as soon as he pronounced "marines".

I smiled, rather forced.  
"Well, it's different from being a maid ... I think I'm fitting my job ... What are you doing here, in the middle of the night, Alois Quincy?"  
I gestured to the haven, a royal son should be sleeping around now ... There was definitely something wrong ...

"We're setting sail."  
His voice was cold, and I could not sense that bit of enthusiasm he used to had when he was talking to me when he was younger ... Well, I couldn't expect him to be as innocent as he always was ...

"Ex-excuse me?"

The short girl chuckled, "My my, my mother _was _right ... Well, Alois, we don't have any time to waste... It won't last long before your parents notice you're gone ..."

And with those words, they passed me by, but I could softly hear Alois mumbling.  
"Thank you ... I still love you ..."  
I ... He ...

"Stop!" I shouted. "What do you mean 'you're setting sail'?!"

"Didn't you actually listen? I want to be a pirate!"

I knew this day would come ... The day he had to stand against the laws for his own sake ... He grew up too fast ...

"I'm going to wait until Gol D. Roger leaves his treasure, and then ... I'm gonna become the king of all pirates!"

A silent remained, but when I heard noise coming from the town itself, Alois and this girl hasted themselves towards a ship they had already set ...

"Bye, Haruki ..." He said, once he entered the vessel.  
I was paralyzed, and did not know what to do, but I managed to use my brains before it was too late.

"You're not challenging just a marine ..." I took my position; I pressed my fingers towards each other and focused on one thing ... Stopping them ...

The blue of sea changed into the red of fire, and before I knew it, it worked.  
The advantages of having this "opposite opposite fruit", this ability allowed me to do inhumanly things ... And yeah, the opposite of water was fire, so ...

"You bitch!"

...

Those words actually got me.  
But surprisingly enough, those words didn't come out of Alois' mouth, nor was the girl opening her mouth when those words reached my ears; but it seemed like her voice though ...

"Why are you doing this? Don't you love Alois? You're ruining his only chance to escape!" A voice echoed trough my voice ... It seemed like that girl's voice once again ... And I couldn't declare it, but for some reason it was right ... I always wanted to become pirate ... Did I really ruin his chances by doing this ...?

I shook my head; I didn't have the right to ruin his dream, and so I changed fire into seawater again ... It was the right thing to do ...

**_XXX_**

Three years ago Alois and this girl had left the town, his parents had sent numerous of marines to find him back, but they never returned ...  
Gol D. Roger also had left his treasure somewhere in the New World; great news for aspiring pirates, but terrible news for the marines ...  
Oh yeah, the marines. They found out I 'helped' them escaping, and yet the King and Queen had to ruin my life once again: they made sure me and my husband were fired ...  
So life actually could get worse.  
But I was happy (i'm such a terrible person ...) when I heard Hannah was fired; the girl who left with Alois, Hera , actually was her daughter.  
When the King and Queen had heard that, they went crazy.  
Ha, exactly what that bitch deserved after all those years.

Anyways, it were three years of utter despair: I was poor, really poor. Finding a job with my reputation was almost impossible ... But I didn't regret it; I made Alois happy.

On a certain day, when I had picked up an abandoned newspaper.  
When my eyes glanced over its cover, my jaw almost hit the ground.

Alois was back!

**_XXX_**

I hasted towards the square where the most special announcements were kept, since I saw a crowd of people heading towards there.  
Indeed, I saw the King and Queen standing on a platform, whilst a young man in dark clothes, wearing a big, black hat was standing between three security guards.  
I could see he had gotten muscular and tanner; Alois Quincy returned ...!  
A speech of boredom followed, and the thing that I noticed immediately was that Hera (that was the girl's name right?) didn't show any presence ... Even when the speech ended and I wandered trough the town, trying to muster up some money, I did not see her ... Was she ...?

XXX

One week later, a wedding between the Prince of North blue and the Princess of South blue was promised in another month.  
The entire world had to know how important this was, apparently.  
Everyone in this world came to know it, from West blue until the Grand Line. Every single one.  
A month after the announcement of a wedding, news which wasn't that promising arrived.  
An island somewhere close to fishman island was attacked by the infamous pirate ... Hera ...

**_XXX_**

Robin shook her head while her eyelids fell down.  
"Could it be ...?" She asked, while the old Haruki was nodding in vain.

"Huh?!" Zoro groaned, not knowing where the two women suddenly were talking about.

"Hera attacked this island with her devil fruit ability ... She can crawl into people's minds and manipulate them by whispering thins in their heads ... The same thing that's happening to you, Robin-chan,..."

She remained silent for a second or three, and then continued.

"The reason she attacked this island and it's people was because she was raging when she heard her beloved Alois married someone else ... The reason he came back from this island to North Blue was because the marine base called him via a den den mushi and told him his hometown was attacked and that his parents died ... He came back with all the courage, but they managed to capture him and forced him to marry this royal girl from South Blue...  
The night before he had killed himself, he escaped and came to me, he told me that I had to find Hera for him and tell her he still loved her...  
And so I did, the night after he committed suicide, me and my husband set sail. We arrived at this island and it ... It was abandoned, after a few days I heard this weird voice again ... She told me to kill my husband, and after months I couldn't stand it! And so, I did ... I feel so bad ... I ..."  
She sobbed, but manned up after Zoro groaned.  
"It seemed to be I was just another victim of Hera, every couple that had been here had underwent this; because she didn't have a great love life, no one should have ...  
Years i've been living in this house, every day I'm trying to contact her ... She lives in the red mountain, at the edge of this island ... Please, help me now I explained everything to you!"

Zoro and Robin exchanged looks; it was a relief now everything was explained. But now they knew they couldn't love as long as Hera remained, they didn't.

"I'm going to teach that bitch a lesson ..." Zoro said furious as he stood up. He flinched when the pain of his wound went trough him, though ...

"No! I promised Alois to not harm her! There must be another solution ...!"

Robin too stood up.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have the time to help you. Thank you for all the help ..."  
She pulled Zoro's arm and left the beautiful mansion, which was a mere shed from the outside; Haruki's ability sure was something ...

"Aren't you a bit harsh ...?" Zoro asked when he noticed where they were heading to.  
"Maybe ..."  
That was nothing for Robin, she mostly was nice to older people. But this time, she was not.

"But you don't know what it was for me ... Being taunted by a mysterious woman's voice .. Wanting to kill you, I'm ..." She raised her head. "I'm going to the red mountain, you stay here, your injuries are worse ... Maybe you can ask Haruki-san if she wants to help you finding the rest of our crew ...?"

"Noway I'm letting you go alone to that dangerous woman! What if something happens?! And didn't you say you didn't want to help that woman?"

"Trust me," she responded calm, "I'll be fine ... And I'm not doing this for Haruki-san, I'm doing this for our own pride ..."  
He refused to listen at her protesting.  
"Fine," she muttered, but she smirked though. "Let's go ..."  
She grabbed his hand and pulled him forward.

For the first time in a while, she felt comfortable around him again ...

**A/N: of all the chapters, this one felt the weirdest for sure ... About the King and Queen thingy, i made that up 'cuz I seriously was running out of creativity ... Besides, Alois and Hannah are two names from another anime, gomen mina!  
Well, I hope everything was explained properly, thank you for reading~!  
(Oh, and about the timeline ... I'm sorry, I seriously didn't know in how many years Gold D. Roger became the pirate king and stuff, I hope it wasn't a bother ...)**


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